Blinds to Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion
Blinds to Go: Staffing a Retail Expansion
In 1954, from Montreal, Canada, Blinds to Go (BTG) business began as a retail fabricator of window dressings. Mr.Shiller was the sole operator of the company and until his son joined in 1970s, He persuaded his father to focus on selling blinds. The new business plan generated positive customer responses and by year 2000, the business has expanded widely across North America. The business continues to grow.
Even though they were growing fast, they faced few problems which include staffing and decrease in sales. Staffing has become a major issue in the company, since there were locations that have buildings but no employees. This problem in hiring the right employees that meets criteria of the company’s standard made harder for company to make decisions as well as increasing the difficulty of meeting the applicants. (Applicants who meets the standard of the BTC.) Not only this, the BTC also has a high turnover rate caused by changes in compensation, which led to sales decline.
Staffing the stores, as mentioned by Nkere Udofia, the vice-chairman of Montreal location, is one of the most challenging issue for BTC. Not to mention that there are already stores that are currently unstaffed, they are worrying about how they will be able to hire enough additional staff for the expanding business.
1. Summarize the key strengths and weaknesses of BTG’s staffing system, and explain why the factors you identify are strengths or weaknesses.
One of the key strengths of their staffing system was the motivation system within in work place. Paying someone a set salary might influence them to make near minimum possible effort from, as they will be less motivated. This may result in unsatisfied customer base as well.
One of the key weaknesses was the obvious, difficulty of measuring the growth of the employee base. Each building is difficult to replicate into multiples because their key to success relies on
In 1954, from Montreal, Canada, Blinds to Go (BTG) business began as a retail fabricator of window dressings. Mr.Shiller was the sole operator of the company and until his son joined in 1970s, He persuaded his father to focus on selling blinds. The new business plan generated positive customer responses and by year 2000, the business has expanded widely across North America. The business continues to grow.
Even though they were growing fast, they faced few problems which include staffing and decrease in sales. Staffing has become a major issue in the company, since there were locations that have buildings but no employees. This problem in hiring the right employees that meets criteria of the company’s standard made harder for company to make decisions as well as increasing the difficulty of meeting the applicants. (Applicants who meets the standard of the BTC.) Not only this, the BTC also has a high turnover rate caused by changes in compensation, which led to sales decline.
Staffing the stores, as mentioned by Nkere Udofia, the vice-chairman of Montreal location, is one of the most challenging issue for BTC. Not to mention that there are already stores that are currently unstaffed, they are worrying about how they will be able to hire enough additional staff for the expanding business.
1. Summarize the key strengths and weaknesses of BTG’s staffing system, and explain why the factors you identify are strengths or weaknesses.
One of the key strengths of their staffing system was the motivation system within in work place. Paying someone a set salary might influence them to make near minimum possible effort from, as they will be less motivated. This may result in unsatisfied customer base as well.
One of the key weaknesses was the obvious, difficulty of measuring the growth of the employee base. Each building is difficult to replicate into multiples because their key to success relies on